Hello 2017

Welcome to the final post of the January CKCB Members' Blog Hop; if you didn't reach me from Cindy then you might want to start at the beginning with Lisa (the full hop list is here).  We had a choice of three challenges to use for the hop (#1 Doors , #2 Zentangles, #3 Perfect Day) or indeed, anything made from this month's kit.  I started a new job this month, so scrapping time has been short and I have several unfinished pages ... but I did have time to complete a card from the scraps:

That's it for the CKCB Members' Hop - I hope you had fun!

Zip-A-Dee-Doodle

Goodbye 2016 - and welcome 2017.  Have you broken any New Year's Resolutions already?  I've resolved not to make any ;-)

As it's the first of the month, I've grabbed some stash and I'm ready to join in with the Master Forger reveal over at the  Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog.

This month's kits-to-copy, was chosen by Julene from the Shop’n’Crop based on a brand new Kaisercraft collection Ubud Dreams.  Our guest designer Cindy is starting us off, and I'm after Susan.

Lots of mint and navy and black and white with some hessian and wood veneer and maybe a little kraft?  Funnily enough I have a similarly coloured collection from Bo Bunny (Zip-A-Dee-Doodle) and based my kit around that:

The reverse sides of the sheets are all black and white doodly patterns which should be useful.

I included some kraft-core cardstock and a sheet of Crate Paper's Wonder My Dear with a selection of veners and some woven trims as well as a few ribbons ... I have more ribbon than I'll ever use in a lifetime ... better make a small dent in it!

Now it's time to hop over to see what Kelly has for you.  If you want to visit all the Master Forgers or you want to know more about kit counterfeiting pop over to the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog today.

Happy New Year !!!

I should Cocoa

Happy First of the Month!
Which around here means that it's reveal time at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog. We started with Dawn, our Guest Designer, and you will have seen everyone else including Susanne as I'm the last in line.

This month the kit-to-copy is Cocoa Daisy's City Park.

A lovely autumnal set of papers, and I knew I had one themed paper in my stash ... so that was the basis of my whole kit!  Unfortunately as it was a freebie from a retreat give-away pile, I have NO idea who the manufacturer is.

Supplies:
MME Bloom & Grow "Bloom" Vines (yellow vine reverse)
Carolees Creations Little Things Dot
The two unknown sheets!
Simple Stories Awesome Collection Flash Cards & Bingo Cards
Allison Kret Sprinled With Love By Your Side (love-birds reverse)
Various tags and journal cards from my stash
Papermania rub-on alphas
K&CO rub-ons
MME Follow Your Heart gems
Autumnal coloured brads

Next on the hop is Kelly (who chose the lovely kit) - take a look why don't you?!

Wonderful, wonderful ...

Welcome to the final post of the October CKCB Members' Blog Hop; if you didn't reach me from Raelene then you might want to start at the beginning with Lisa (the full hop list is here).  We had a choice of three challenges to use for the hop (#1 Snip, Snip! , #2 Balance The Scale, #3 Paying Dress Up) or indeed, anything made from this month's kit.  I've already joined in with #2 with this page, and decided to finish off the Danish part of my Scandinavian road trip album by putting the remaining Copenhagen photos onto a double page spread:

Despite putting loads of navy alphas into my October Counterfeit kit, I didn't have enough letters to spell Copenhagen ... so two "3"s had to do duty as "E"s and that "A" is an upside down "V" with a cleverly positioned heart ... my thanks to Lesley for suggesting this!

I've room for a little journalling with some memories of a lovely foot and bicycle friendly city with a wide range of things to see and do.

We'd love it if you joined in next month's hop, so why not keep an eye out for November's  Kit-to-copy on November 1st and sign up by November 18th.

Pass The Page 2016

Each year in the run up to our Scrappy Retreat my good friend Julie organises a Pass the Page to get us in the creative mood.  This year my inspiration page came from Alison:

I took a look at the doily, circles and frame, repeated elements, arrows and top right title to produce a page for my Edinburgh holiday album:

My first time ever in Scotland so there were several photos taken on the border with England.

I then passed my page on to Missuss Wookie who took it somewhere completely new ... why not pop over and take a look.

Collecting A Kit

Welcome to another month of kit counterfeiting with the Counterfeit kit Challenge Blog.  This month we have Kelly, our Guest Designer,  to start us off  with her counterfeit of the Indigo Hills collection from Pinkfresh Studio.

If you have been hopping along you'll already have seen what the lovely Susanne did with the inspiration kit and now it's my turn.  It was far too painty and blotchy for me to counterfeit too closely, so (ignoring the pastel pink) I went with a colour match!

Those blues and blacks reminded me of some papers from Teresa Collins Urban Market collection ... which I just happen to have in 6x6 format.  I selected some sheets from that and added some yellow accents from a Sn@p! Colour Vibe pad.

I haven't used buttons much recently so they'll feature this month!

Supplies:
6x6 Urban Market papers - Damask, Floral, Collage, Subway, Circles and Dots
6x6 Sn@p! Colour Vibe 1 sheets
Blue & Yellow buttons
My Little Shoebox grey alphas
Navy alphas by Sn@p! studio
Navy alphas
Grey alphas

No excuse to run out of letters for my titles!

Now let's see what Master Forger Kelly makes of forging a collection - Happy hopping :-)

PURRfectly Placed

Welcome to the start of the September Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog Members' Hop.  I went rogue with the prompts this month and did my own thing with an old photo from 2014:

The photo seemed made for the colours in my  my September Counterfeit Kit ... wouldn't you agree?  The perspective makes those Bengal kittens look huge, but they were teeny back in 2014.  Child No.3 was in kitty heaven!

Next on the hop is a brand new member of our Counterfeiting Club, so please pop over and give a very warm welcome to  Anne.  The full hop list is published on the CKCB today if you get lost on your travels.

Felicitations!

It's that time of the month again ... kit reveal ... with the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog. Which of course means a hop around the Master Forgers.  This month we started with our Guest Designer, Nicole, and you should have reached me from Susanne.

This month the kit-to-copy, Felicity Jane's August Kit, called "Maggie", was a beautiful combo of orange and blue, black and white, stripes, plaid and florals ...

Last month's kit featured pastel blue,so when I spotted a combination of orange and green stripes in my stash, I decided to go off at a slight tangent.  For some reason all my stripes are diagonals!

Supplies:
MAMBI black & white plaid pattern (from 2004!!!)
Orange striped paper
Puddle Jumper from Pink Paisle's Hello Sunshine collection (green drops reverse)
MME's Now & Then Izzy Smile Bloom (green dots) and Smile Regard (tesselated cards)
BG Typeset Crop Marks (plain green)
White Paisley by Doodlebug
6x6 sheet from Studio Calico's Thataway pad

Various journalling cards, scraps and ribbons from my stash
MME Lush brads
Orange striped washi
Scalloped border punch and some scallop-punched borders 
American Crafts Remarks alpha stickers in black & white
Sn@p! Studio Orange alphas

Next on the hop is the lovely Julene so please pop "down under" to see what she has to offer!
If you get lost along the hop - the full list is on the CKCB here.  Have fun!

Aperto for Business!

Welcome to the final post of the August CKCB Members' Blog Hop; if you didn't reach me from Salla then you might want to start at the beginning with Lisa (the full hop list is here).  We had  a choice of three challenges to use for the hop (#1 Happy Sandcastle Day, #2 Outside The Stash, #3 Sounds Foreign To Me) or indeed, anything made from this month's kit.

Using my August Counterfeit Kit, I used Italian to title my double page spread about a surprise tour of an Italian castle!:

The blues and browns of the kit were the perfect mix for both interior and exterior shots of the Catello di Torre Alfina.  We've visited this quirky town many times over the years - it has an excellent Gelateria!  The castle, however, has always been a mystery.  Never open to the public.  Until this time!

We don't read or speak Italian so we weren't quite sure if we were allowed through the open door ... but others were wandering around taking photos so we joined in!

People then started gathering around a staff member, but we still had no idea what was going on and hoped we wouldn't get chucked out.  However, another member of staff worked out that we were "foreign" and we ended up having a private tour for two of the newly-opened-for-occasional-tours castle!

We were so happy that we'd been cheeky and walked through the green door ... it was a fabulous experience.

I hope you enjoyed the CKCB Members' Hop this month - why not join with a page next time?

A Germane Kit to Copy!

Kit reveal time again ... with the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog's hop around the Master Forgers' blogs.  We started with our Master Forger Karen and I'm a hop away from Susanne.

This month it was Lisa's turn to choose a kit and, appropriately enought, the kit-to-copy came from Germany: Papier Werkstadt's March Kit.

A lovely muted kit, full of neutrals plus hints of pastels.  I started leafing through my papers to find kraft/white patterns, but spotted a trio of Basic Grey's Scarlett's Letter that I'd been saving ... and decided that they could work as a starting point.  I added a couple more modern neutrals from Crate Paper's The Pier pad and then added some hints of pale blue ... no suprise that pale pink didn't feature!  Well actually, it is there on a pattern reverse that will NOT be being used!

Supplies:
Crate Paper's The Pier (numbers)
Daisy Bucket Star KissedStardust (fawn reverse)
My Little Shoebox In Bloom Botanical (floral reverse - the pink one!)
Unknown damask pattern
Crate Paper Maggie Holmes (interlocking circles)
Crate Paper's The Pier (chevrons)
Confession, Pearl and Desire from Basic Grey Scarlett's Letter Collection
Paper Salon Enamoured's Iron Gates, Blue Scrolls and Floral
Scenic Route Small Random Kraft alphas
Crate Paper Story Teller alphas
Unknown brown and blue alphas
MME Follow Your Heart decorative brads
WRMK enamel shapes
Paper Salon cardstock stickers
Basic Grey cream rub-ons
Bo Bunny brown rub-ons
Home made paper rosettes

Next on the hop we are welcoming the lovely Julene back from her holidays. If you get lost along the hop - the full list is on the CKCB here.  Have fun!

High Five!

Welcome to the start of the July Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog Members' Hop.

I've picked Challenge #2: Inspired by Cool Waters in Hot Weather for my hop page this month - which was pretty easy as my July Counterfeit Kit had some patterned paper with a wonderful mix of cool and hot colours along with cool dotty overlays and warm rub-ons.

I've used the July sketch from at Sue's @ Me & Mine which is a great one for scrappy scrapping.

The photo is from my local crop's 5th anniversary photo earlier this year - we are indeed a happy bunch!

Next on the hop is this month's Guest Designer - Gretchen.  The full hop list is published on the CKCB today.

D'you like a July Kit?

It's that time of the month again ... kit reveal ... with the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog. Which of course means a hop around the Master Forgers.  We started with Gretchen, our Guest Designer, and you will have seen everyone else including Susanne as I'm the last in line.

This month the kit-to-copy, from S&CT is 2015's Crop & Create Delivered - Heat Wave.

A lovely summery set of papers, none of which I has ... so I looked out some dots and chevrons, some clouds and text, in reds, blacks, teal and especially bright sunshiny yellow!

Supplies:
Crate Paper's Little Bo Peep Matilda (green floral reverse)
MME Jack & Jill "Life Is Good" Serene Spots (green  floral)
½ sheet Boutique Newspaper (yellow) from Simple Stories DIY Boutique
Hambly Screen Prints teal Mod Circles
Roundabout from Bella Blvd's Pack Your Bags
2 6x6 sheets from MME Cut & Paste Charm pad
Boutique Polka (red) from SS DIY Boutique
Various washis from my stash
Grey and yellow Thickers
K&Co Rub-ons
Home-made bees (details on the 4th)
Yellow buttons (to replace the enamel dots)
Various 2x3 cards from my stash
7 Dots Studio Illumination Elements

Not a close match, but one I can work with!  Plus I dug out some really ancient stash to use up - RESULT!
That's the end of the Master Forger Hop for July - if you're joining in this month, please link up and share.

If at first ...

Welcome to the not-quite-final post of the June CKCB Members' Blog Hop; if you didn't reach me from Roxanne then you might want to start at the beginning with Lisa (the full hop list is here).  We had a choice of three challenges to use for the hop (#1 Inspiration Board, #2 In Quotes, #3 Everything Old Is New Again) or indeed, anything made from this month's kit.

Using my June Counterfeit Kit, I gave a nod to challenge #2 with a humourous take on an old saying:

Having tried (and tried) to get a good shot of Hubby, No.2 Son and Child No.3 before their patience ran out during a birthday meal, I was disappointed to find that not one of the photos was even half-decent of all three of them!  Each one had at least one person moving, blinking talking or drinking!  So I used them all!
I certainly didn't have enough white alphas in my kit for the title, so I broke out some ancient Making Memories rub-ons to help me out.

I'm not quite the end of the hop this month - please welcome a newcomer to the CKCB: Princy

Bustin' Out My June Kit

Welcome to another month of kit counterfeiting with the Counterfeit kit Challenge Blog.  Having started last month's reveal, I'm bringing up the rear this time - so you should have seen everyone else's efforts already ... including our Guest Designer Salla ... and found my blog via the lovely Susanne.  If so, you'll have seen loads of photos of the Kit-to-Copy, the Hip Kit Club May 2016 Kit and all the add-ons and extras.

Whenever I start counterfeiting, I look to see if I have anything (similar) from the original kit.   
Yes - I had some Jillibean Soup mini placemats from the PL Kit and some wood veneers from the main.
The patterns ar ethe next pointer for forgery:  words on a page ... dots ... patterned stripes ... florals ... triangles ...
Yes - I had some bright text-covered paper, loads of dotty patterns, some navy striped paper I could embellish, some matching florals and some triangular brads!
After that I add to what I've already selected, keeping an  eye on the colours ... there was plenty of pink in last month's kit, so this time I concentrated on the turquoise!  Here's my mini-kit:

Supplies:
Freeze Frame (frames), Who's To Say (floral), Chevron/Teal (chevron) from SS DIY Boutique
Some polka dot paper from a giveaway pile
6x6 Sheets of MME Now & Then Izzy paper Smart/Boys (keys) and Frolic/Happenings (orange pattern) which is now a forgery of a Hip Kit Club Exclusive (see Forgeries on the Fourth for details)
Jillibean Soup Mini Placemats - Smile
Triangular brads in various colours
Navy/white arrow washi tape
KI Memories Softies (random extra - to use them up!)
Creative Memories Stencil alpha stickers
Gin XCollege Navy and Chotchkie White rub-on alphas
Wood veneers from my stash

Total effect ... not a lot like the original, but definitely usable, and some seriously old stash busted out of storage!!

The full list of Master Forgeries is available on the CKCB today if you fancy joining in.

Snappy Scrapping

Welcome to the start of the May Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog Members' Hop.  I picked Challenge #3: Escher Effects for my hop page this month - i.e. to use tessellation in my layout design with a photo from Gatorland back in 2004:

This was quick to do and brilliant for using up the scraps from my May Counterfeit Kit ... as well as creating more scraps if I'm honest!  I hadn't used any of the gold thread I'd included in my kit, so I decided to add a dash of inspiration from both UKScrappers (this week's challenge) and Whimsical Musings (WM#208 to incorporate string art) and added gold threads between my patchwork pieces.

Next on the hop is a regular contributor in our Counterfeit family - Tina.  The full hop list is published on the CKCB today.

May Kit - May Scrap

It's that time of the month again ... kit reveal ... with the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog. Which of course means a hop around the Master Forgers ... starting with our lovely and talented Guest Designer, Jane!

I chose the kit-to-copy this month so I have no excuse for not liking it!  Every other month I am SO tempted by the kits that my crop friends receive from Quirky Kits, that I decided to pay tribute to them by choosing their April 2014 Kits (Main, Lite and Embellishmets) for our forgeries.

I picked elements from all three kits to combine into my counterfeit, ending up with a largely teal, pink (!), black and white theme:

Supplies:
Unknown dotty paper in cream and olive
Bella Blvd's Super Stud Eclipse
Echo Park (green flowered reverse of) Diagonal Dot from So Happy Together
MME Flair "Small" Charms (black & white striped reverse)
Pink Flamingo Fusion from Basic Grey
Simple Stories Boutique Dots (pink reverse)
A scrap of Crate Paper So Rad from Boys Rule (yellow, grey triangle reverse)
Twelve by 12 Garden Mist
Music vellum
Unkown 6x6 sheets with teal dots (orange reverse) and rainbow chevron
Home made butterfly rub-on*
Heidi Swapp Washi Tape Booklet and gold Acetate Words
Various wood veneer shapes from my stash
Home made enamel dots*
Black striped washi and teal striped washi
MME Now and Then Dorothy "Lovely Day" Flair
MME Flair "Today" Stickers
Various cards from MME Flair Collection Kit

Having photographed the papers, I realised there were still things missing, such as gold thread, black and white alphas and mini alpha stickers ... so I grabbed them too:

Next on the hop is Julene who has forged some of the papers beautifully.  If you get lost out there in Blog Land, the full list is on the CKCB here.  Have fun!

*Please don't forget to stop by the CKCB on the 4th to see our Forgeries On The Fourth creations!

Ginger Snaps

Welcome to the not-quite-final post of the April CKCB Members' Blog Hop; if you didn't reach me from Natalie then you might want to start at the beginning with Lisa (the full hop list is here but it's a short one this month).  We had a choice of three challenges to use for the hop (#1 Shabby Chic Techniques , #2 C'est Magnifique, N'est Pas?, #3 Ephemera Encapsulated) or indeed, anything made from this month's kit.

Using my April Counterfeit Kit, I went my own way with a couple of ancient photos of Child No.3 and her Grandad (now sadly deceased).

The photos were pre-digital so I'm not 100% certain when they were taken - I found these in a stack of early photos still sitting in their delivery envelopes - but I know Grandad only visited on special occasions, so I suspect it was for her 1st birthday.

We nearly missed out a dedicated counterfeiter this month - partly because the CKCB has changed e-mails (it's now thecounterfeitkitchallengeblog@gmail.com) - so rather than stopping with me, please nip over to Tina and see what she has to share.

P.S. I'm also linking up to UKScrappers' Scrap Like You Mean It Reboot Challenge #2 as I stamped all over the title letters!

April Foolery

Welcome to another month of kit counterfeiting with the Counterfeit kit Challenge Blog.  This month's Kit-to-copy: February's Enchanted Garden Kit from C'est Magnifique Kit Club has been counterfeited already by our Guest Designer Louise, fellow Master Forger Clair and now it's my turn.

I'll be honest and admit that when I first saw the inspiration kit, my heart sank.  It's full of darkly, vintage florals and really not my thing.  However, I spotted that the whole kit was based around a Kaisercraft collection, and remembered that I had a number of Kasiercraft 6.5"x6.5" paper pads, one of which contained a number of darkly, vintage florals - the perfect basis for my kit. A few flowers, ribbons, arrows and pearls later, this is what I came up with:

There are more papers in the Mr Fox pad than you can see here; I didn't want to pull them all out of the pad quite yet.   I'll add cardstock as required.

Looking back at the original, it's obvious I have a different style for displaying a kit:

So a more accurate counterfeit might be this ;-)

Now let's see what Julene makes of the darkly, vinatge floral inspiration - I'm pretty sure she'll cope!  Happy hopping :-)

Making the Most of My Kit

Welcome to the start of the March Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog Members' Hop .  I didn't join in with the challenges this month, but took inspiration from fellow Master Forger Lisa's Whimsical Musings blog and used up some eyelets (WM#203).

I'm obviously out of practice because one or two got a bit squashed ... Making Memories made the hardest eyelets ever!!!!  The photos are ancient ones from 2004 and mean that I am very nearly finished with our Disney album ... but not quite.  We had a smashing if noisy airboat ride around Lake Tohopekaliga looking for crocodilian wildlife ... it dawned on me after doing the title that technically these were the alligator branch of the family!!  I added some toning washi tapes to just one sheet of 6x6 paper and one 4x6 tag from my March Counterfeit Kit ... it'll never get used up at this rate!

Next on the hop is a newcomer to our Counterfeit family, so please give her a warm welcome and plenty of comment lurve by popping over to see Sally.  The full hop list is published on the CKCB today.